BELMONT – When Belmont Abbey College began its last basketball season, Stephen Miss had high hopes for his team that would be led by senior veterans Tyshawn Good, Jay Council and Terrone Sheffey.

Miss’ optimism came true in early March when the Crusaders won their third Conference Carolinas championship with stunning back-to-back road victories at Barton and Limestone.

To the Abbey’s returning players, that title is something they plan to vigorously defend. But to Miss and his coaching staff, the championship is last year’s signature and this is a new year.

“We know it’s a new year and a new team,” said senior forward Darryl Durham, the Crusaders’ second-leading returning scorer (11.1) and top returning rebounder (8.2). “But I think everybody’s going to step up and fill in and work harder than before to make sure we can have the same kind of success we had last year.”

A sixth-place preseason pick in the 10-team league by Conference Carolinas coaches, Miss knows expectations won’t be terribly high as his team opens its schedule Saturday at 4 p.m. at home at the Wheeler Center against Clayton State.

But losing the nation’s leading scorer in Good, who was honored as Belmont Abbey’s first All-American in 28 years, in addition to 1,000-point career scorer Council and veteran point guard Sheffey do leave a gaping hole in the Crusaders’ offense that has ranked fourth and sixth, respectively, in NCAA Division II scoring the past two seasons.

“We’ll definitely be different,” said Miss, who became the school’s sixth 100-game winner as a head coach last season. “Losing the offensive firepower that we had will be difficult to replace so we’ll have to be a little more defensive-oriented but we still believe in the offense we run.”

That “UCLA flex cut” offense will rely on several guards to run smoothly this season – seniors Chris Davis and Ryan Conrad, juniors Justin Kuhlman and Tim Mason and freshmen Drexler Clark and Ray Chen. Chen is a former Gaston Day standout and a 2012 All-Gazette selection who redshirted last season.

“I know we’ll be fairly young in the backcourt,” Durham said. “Knowing that should make us want to give our all every time we step on the floor.”

Durham’s preseason preparations included an assist from his father and a former NBA standout.

A native of Atlanta, Durham worked out last summer with his father Darryl’s former high school teammate Dale Ellis. Ellis was an 18-year NBA veteran who remains seventh in league history in made 3-pointers and played for six teams, including the Charlotte Hornets.

“We worked on shooting in the 15- to 17-foot range, ballhandling, post moves and, of course, free throw shooting,” Durham said of his summer workouts at his alma mater of Kennesaw Mountain High School.

Durham and Davis, an 11.7 scorer last season, are the top returning scorers for the Abbey this season.

Davis will lead a backcourt that includes Kuhlman, Conrad, Mason, Clark and Chen while also spending time on the frontcourt. Other top frontcourt players should be Durham, junior Jonathan Garrett, senior Zach Sowell and freshman Tyler Horn.

Another post player, former East Gaston High standout Robbie Sterling, will redshirt this season after transferring from Johnson and Wales.

“We may have to tweak some things from the past,” said Miss, who as a three-year assistant and six-year head coach has coached 10 of the Abbey’s 37 1,000-point scorers, including No. 4 Richard Barbee (2,018) and No. 5 Good (2,012). “We certainly want to maintain the balance of one-third transition, one-third set offense and one-third special situations. We’re just not as mature and experienced right now as I hope we’ll become.”

You can reach Richard Walker at 704-869-1841 or by twitter.com/JRWalk22

Climbing the charts

As Stephen Miss enters his seventh season as Belmont Abbey College men’s basketball coach, he continues climbing higher and higher among the school’s all-time winningest coaches. Here’s how the Crusaders’ senior college coaches rank: